Manufacturers' training programs helping supply skilled workers

Sunday

Jul 21, 2013 at 12:01 AMJul 21, 2013 at 8:24 PM

Hudson Technologies in Ormond Beach recently launched a tool-and-die apprenticeship program, taking qualified but unskilled workers, and molding them into journeymen and master workers of the future. It's the manufacturer's first such program in recent years.

FATIMA HUSSEINBUSINESS WRITER

ORMOND BEACH — Donald Trump isn't the only one looking for a few good apprentices. For the first time in years, local manufacturers are rolling out apprentice programs to train the next generation of skilled workers. The reasons: a growing shortage of skilled manufacturing workers, both locally and nationally, combined with the aging of the work force for many manufacturers. Hudson Technologies in Ormond Beach recently launched a tool-and-die apprenticeship program, taking qualified but unskilled workers, and molding them into journeymen and master workers of the future. It's the manufacturer's first such program in recent years. Emmanuel Lopez, who started at Hudson Technologies as a press operator in 2006, was eager to sign up for the company's four-year apprenticeship program earlier this year. “There's so much to learn, but this program gives me a desire to achieve more, to keep trying to climb my way up to the top,” he said. Lopez, said his pay has doubled since becoming an apprentice at Hudson, which means he can now afford to purchase a new house for his family that includes a baby on the way. The average pay of a tool-and-die apprentice starts at approximately $14 an hour and can reach up to $18 an hour, said Hudson President Bret Schmitz, who has been leading the development of his company's Florida Department of Education-certified training program. “This program gives workers a formal path to become tool-and-die workers,” said Schmitz, who said the program requires apprentices, who must be 18 and older, to earn 8,000 hours to reach the level of journeyman. The Washington D.C.-based Manufacturing Institute estimates there are 600,000 manufacturing jobs currently unfilled nationwide. That growing shortage of skilled manufacturing workers has prompted a number of manufacturers nationally to start in-house training programs. Apprenticeship programs were once common among manufacturing companies, but were largely abandoned more than 20 years ago in part because of the rise of outsourcing factory jobs overseas. But as the average age of employees of U.S. manufacturers continues to increase, it has prompted concern among many companies about who can take the place of those workers once they retire. Hudson is the first local manufacturer to launch an apprentice program in recent years, but it likely won't be the last. Teledyne Oil & Gas, a Daytona Beach-based manufacturer, is considering creating an apprenticeship program — possibly with help from Daytona State College's Advanced Technology College — to train workers specific to its needs, said Scott McGuire, the company's human resources director. “Teledyne Oil & Gas is interested in an apprenticeship model that identifies and trains candidates to move into modern manufacturing,” he said. Volusia County Manager Jim Dinneen said the county would like to encourage more local manufacturers to create apprenticeship programs. “The (Volusia County) Council is investigating the concept of establishing bid preferences for manufacturing companies who have apprenticeship programs,” said Dinneen, adding that vendors with certified apprenticeship programs could be awarded up to a 5 percent bid preference for projects, compared to companies that do not have apprenticeship programs. Ted Astolfi, deputy director with Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership, said, “With this resurgence in apprentice programs, I think we'll be seeing more of them throughout the state.” Jayne Fifer, president and CEO of the VMA, an Ormond Beach-based manufacturing alliance that has members throughout the Volusia-Flagler area as well as in some neighboring counties, said stereotypes about manufacturing have dissuaded some young people from considering a career in manufacturing. “People still believe that it's the smokestack industry of their grandfather's manufacturing,” she said. Most manufacturers these days, she said, “are clean, highly sophisticated operations now.” She said it's not just tool-and-die apprenticeships that are needed locally. “We need highly skilled electrical and CNC (computer numeric control machining) operators as well,” she said of the more than 400 manufacturing companies in Volusia and Flagler counties. Rob Ehrhardt, Volusia County's economic development manager, said finding a solution to the shortage of skilled manufacturing workers will take time. “Volusia's economic development division has worked with the Center for Business Excellence (the Volusia-Flagler area's workforce development board) and with Daytona State College in recognition of this need for skilled labor to create and implement solutions,” he said. “That won't solve the immediate need,” he said, “but will solve the problem on a longer-term basis.”

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.